The Major League Soccer season is beginning to get into a real rhythm as all clubs involved find their feet and start to build some momentum. There are plenty of reasons to believe this could be the best MLS campaign yet, with teams across North America getting better and better. Today, we’ll be taking a look at what should be a fascinating encounter between Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers.
Vancouver Form GuideVancouver did a solid job of getting into the playoffs with a sixth place finish in the Western Conference. From there, they earnt a meeting with Los Angeles in the first round, but they bowed out in pretty convincing fashion. Despite such a setback, they’ve still got the kind of infrastructure necessary to make some noise in the weeks and months ahead - and we’re intrigued to see how they perform.
Following a 1-1 draw with Charlotte, Vancouver registered two impressive wins over San Jose and Dallas to really get their season up and running. In their most recent outing, however, they fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Salt Lake to halt their momentum for the time being.
Portland Form GuidePortland, historically speaking, have had some great moments across their time in the MLS - and last season, they were somewhat unlucky to miss out on the playoffs as they wound up just one point outside of the wild card spots. Still, despite being so close, it’s worth noting that they have some big improvements to make, especially when you look at their defensive record.
Portland dominated Colorado in a 4-1 win to start the season before a 2-2 draw with DC United. They went on to defeat New York City 2-1, but in their last few outings, they’ve really struggled as they were handed defeats by Houston and Philadelphia.
Match PredictionBoth of these teams have put their best foot forward to kickstart the season as two of the pacemakers in the Western Conference. There are plenty of reasons to be excited about what they can produce and in terms of an official prediction, we’re going to shoot for over 2.5 goals scored.
